Dambulla Giants continue their winning streak in the Lankan Premier League, LPL. Today, they defeated Galle Titans by seven wickets with 14 balls in their hands to register their third successive victory in this tournament. Lankan batter Avishka Fernando played a destructive innings, which earned him the Player of the Match award against the Galle Titans.
Toss: Kusal Mendis, the captain of Dambulla Giants, won the toss and opted to bowl first against Galle Titans. The pitch was a bit wet, and the captain thought bowlers would get an advantage from this kind of pitch. That is why Kusal Mendis didn’t hesitate to choose bowl first after winning the toss.
Galle Titans had a slow start
Losing the toss, Galle Titans started their batting innings with Tim Seifert and Shevon Daniel. As the pitch was not batting-friendly, the two openers took their time to settle down on the crease. They didn’t take much risky shots in the powerplay.
But despite being defensive, Tim Seifert and Shevon Daniel could’t build a long partnership. In the begining of the 4th over, Galle Titans lost their first wicket as Tim Seifert departed with 15 runs. Shevon Daniel also lost his wicket in the following over, scoring only 7 runs.
However, Chad Bowes and Shakib Al Hasan then tried to build a partnership. Unfortunately, they added 26 runs together on the scoreboard. Shakib departed with 13 runs, while Chad Bowes added 22 off 18.
Captain’s knock
Galle Titans were in deep troble after losing five wickets in just 72 runs. It seemed they couldn’t score 110. But capatain Dasun Shanaka stepped in to rescue the team. He tried hard to add some quick runs. The captain smashed four boundaries to score 36 runs from 26 balls. But Hasan Ali stopped him as he picked up Shanaka in the 18.3 over. After that the remaining batters couldn’t contribute much. As a result, Galle Titans ended their innings with 133 runs.
Avishka Fernando’s aggression
Chasing a tiny target, Dambulla Giants had a quick start. Opener Avishka Fernando and Kusal Mendis tried to become aggressive from the very first ball. 47 runs came from the opening partnership until Kusal Mendis lost his wicket to Lahiru Kumara in the 7.5 over.
Kusal Mendis scored 18 runs before leaving the crease, but Avishka Fernando was out of his world. He made another partnership of 36 runs with Sadeera Samarawickrama.
Although Sadeera Samarawickrama returned to the pavilion after picking 25 off 18 balls, Avishka Fernando continued hitting boundaries. With three sixes and three fours, the opener added an unbeaten 70 runs only from 49 balls.
Relying on his bat, Dambulla Giants chased the target within 18 overs, winning the game by 7 wickets. As a result, Dambulla Giants are still at the top of the table with 8 points after six games in the league.
